Judiciary, army should work within limits: Gilani

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said all state institutions, including the judiciary and army, should work within their constitutional limits as tensions continued between the civilian government

and the powerful military over the Memogate scandal.

"Parliament, judiciary and the army - we respect all three and we want these three institutions to work while remaining within their constitutional limits," Gilani said in televised concluding remarks at a special meeting of his

cabinet in the southern port city of Karachi.

Gilani's remarks came against the backdrop of continuing tensions between his government and the powerful army.

"We are with them, we fully support them and we have no intention to see the fall of any institution," he said.

Gilani further said his government was committed to working with all state institutions.

"We are the elected people of Pakistan. We should respect the judiciary, we should respect the military, we should respect parliament and we should also respect the media. There is a thin line but we will take all of them along. This is our commitment," he said.

"Sometimes governments are formed and sometimes they fall. We have fallen and risen several times. It is not a new struggle for us to be in power," Gilani added.

Gilani's remarks came against the backdrop of continuing tensions between his government and the powerful army over an alleged memo that sought US help to stave off a possible coup after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May.

There has been widespread speculation that President Asif Ali Zardari, who spent almost a fortnight in Dubai earlier this month for medical treatment, would be forced out by the military over the scandal.